Chapter 145: Cleaning Them Up One by One

The cases were tried one by one.

Cases that had been exceptionally chaotic and complex, appearing extremely thorny to onlookers, were handled with remarkable speed once they reached Han Kuang's hands.

After Yao Zongwen confessed, the remaining matters became very simple.

The earliest case was quickly sorted out—that being the case of Liu Guojin offering bribes. The charges against Yao Zongwen, Feng Sanyuan, and the others thus came into being. These men had accepted bribes and framed Xiong Tingbi, and with that, the case was concluded.

Han Kuang said directly: "This case is settled as such. Seal it and file it away."

"Next, we begin the trial of the case of court ministers colluding with the border general Li Ruzhen." Han Kuang struck the gavel with an expressionless face and said in a cold voice.

This time, the one brought up was Liu Guojin.

Glancing at the dejected Liu Guojin, Han Kuang asked with a stern countenance and a clear, cold voice: "Regarding the bribery case, do you have anything else to say? If you do, say it now; if not, sign and affix your fingerprint. Show him the confession document."

Upon hearing this, the clerk who had been recording the proceedings hurriedly stood up, walked down, and handed the document in his hand to Liu Guojin.

No one present said a word—including Wei Zhongxian. Complete silence reigned.

It was not that they did not wish to speak, but that they had nothing to say. Through the case just concluded, Han Kuang had demonstrated his ample competence while also displaying his impartiality.

Those present could find no fault to pick even if they tried, so they could only watch quietly.

Liu Guojin took the document, glanced at it, and nodded lightly. "I have no objections."

The contents written on this document were not extensive, nor were they complicated—it merely recorded the process of Liu Guojin's bribery: at what location he had delivered how much money, and why he had delivered that money. There was nothing more to be said about these matters.

Han Kuang nodded and continued pressing: "Why did you send money to bribe them? Why did you have them impeach Xiong Tingbi?"

The moment this question was raised, everyone perked up instantly, for this was the crux of the case.

What had come before could only be considered appetizers—the cold dishes at a banquet. Now the hot dishes were just being brought to the table.

Upon hearing Han Kuang's question, Liu Guojin's face turned ashen.

At this moment, Liu Guojin knew he had to explain clearly; if he did not speak, then he would become the mastermind of this case.

Using silver to bribe censors at court, causing them to falsely accuse Xiong Tingbi—Xiong Tingbi was a high official sent by the court to Liaodong. This was a charge he could not bear; if he took it upon himself, he would likely face the death penalty outright.

Liu Guojin let out a soft sigh and spoke with a forlorn expression: "In this matter, I was acting under Li Ruzhen's orders. Over the years, we have both been men of Liaodong. I have received a considerable amount of money from Li Ruzhen, so when he told me to do something, I could not refuse."

Han Kuang nodded slightly and continued: "How much silver did Li Ruzhen give you? At what location was it delivered? When was it delivered? Tell me everything."

As he spoke, Han Kuang turned to look at the clerk who was writing furiously and instructed: "Record this down."

Liu Guojin had no choice but to recount, item by item, the process of his acceptance of bribes.

After Liu Guojin had finished saying everything, Han Kuang asked with a cold face: "Do you have anything else to say?"

"Yes," Liu Guojin nodded, as if having made up his mind, and spoke with firm resolve: "Originally, I did not agree to this matter. After all, Xiong Tingbi was a minister sent by the court, and such an approach might not necessarily succeed. If anything went wrong, we could also face retaliation."

"However, Li Ruzhen told me that as long as I went to make connections, there would be people to support me, and the matter would be easily accomplished. Things indeed went as Li Ruzhen had predicted—it was accomplished very smoothly. I also asked Li Ruzhen who was coordinating with me, and Li Ruzhen said they were people from the Censorate at court. When I tried to press further, he would not say more."

Han Kuang nodded, then instructed the clerk: "Have him affix his fingerprint."

Repeating the same process as before, Liu Guojin was also led away.

Han Kuang glanced at Liu Guojin's confession document and the bright red fingerprint on it, then nodded and said: "That's enough. File it away."

After the items were taken away, Han Kuang continued: "File all the case records away. Bring Li Ruzhen up."

This entire sequence of operations left Wei Zhongxian, watching from the side, filled with admiration.

Han Kuang was truly worthy of being a Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat—whether in interrogation technique or in his understanding of people's hearts, he was exceptionally skilled.

In truth, Han Kuang was not so much skilled at understanding people's hearts as he was at understanding the hearts of officials. His questions always struck straight at the vital point, and the evidence he produced left people with no room for rebuttal.

Before long, Li Ruzhen was brought up.

Han Kuang continued the interrogation.

As for his own crimes, Li Ruzhen confessed without reservation.

He was the first to confess, because he knew he had no way to escape. He had been arrested not for these matters, but for his military failures in Liaodong.

Li Ruzhen understood his own situation very clearly. Even if he denied this bribery case, the unresolved cases in Liaodong could still cost him his life.

If he cooperated actively with this case, there might still be a chance to live—this he saw with perfect clarity.

That was why Li Ruzhen had been relatively cooperative with Wei Zhongxian before this—mainly because Wei Zhongxian had promised him that he could plead for him before the Emperor and find a way to preserve his life.

At this point, Li Ruzhen had even fewer options, so he decisively chose to confess everything—how he had colluded with court officials and how he had embezzled military funds in Liaodong year after year.

Especially the one million taels allocated when the late Emperor ascended the throne, which had become a feast for countless people.

It was also during this feast that he had come to know quite a few people, which was why he wielded such influence at court.

After these confessions were completed, Han Kuang spoke: "Let me ask you—what was the matter with Xiong Tingbi? Why did you seek people to falsely accuse him? Was it because you bore him a grudge, or did you have other matters to accomplish?"

"In answer to Your Honor, I was acting on someone's orders in this matter." Li Ruzhen did not mince words either.

"Who was it?" Han Kuang asked once more.

"In answer to Your Honor, it was Yuan Yingtai, the Military Commissioner of Liaodong. Everything was orchestrated by Yuan Yingtai. He said that as long as I cooperated with him, the post of Military Commissioner of Liaodong would go to him, and from then on, Liaodong would be ours to call the shots. Throughout all of Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi was the biggest obstacle. As long as we moved him aside, Liaodong would have no more worries."

Han Kuang nodded slightly and continued: "Record this in the files." Then he turned and asked: "Is there anything else?"

"Yes." Li Ruzhen nodded and continued: "The people coordinating at court were all arranged by Yuan Yingtai. He said that as long as we cooperated well on our end, they at court would certainly find a way to bring down Xiong Tingbi, and the one appointed to replace him would inevitably be himself. Things went exactly as he had said—Xiong Tingbi was removed, and the new Military Commissioner of Liaodong was indeed Yuan Yingtai. It was indeed him."

"Who exactly are 'they' that you refer to?" Han Kuang asked again.

Upon hearing this question, Li Ruzhen let out a self-deprecating laugh and shook his head.

This Han Kuang—he clearly could not possibly be unaware, yet at this very moment he pretended not to know. Did this matter really have to come from his own mouth?

So Li Ruzhen could only raise his head and say: "It is the Donglin Faction. I do not know what others outside think of this name, but that is what I call them. Most of these people come from the Donglin Academy; even if they are not from the Donglin Academy, they are fellow examination graduates, fellow year-mates, or even fellow disciples. They collude with one another at court and form cliques for private gain, so I call them the Donglin Faction."

"Record this in the files." Han Kuang continued speaking with an expressionless face.

Though his face showed no emotion, Han Kuang's heart was not calm.

This could be seen from Han Kuang's eyes, for a hint of pallor showed through them. Clearly, he too knew that this time the Donglin Faction would find it difficult to escape.

Steadying his emotions, Han Kuang continued asking: "Aside from this, is there anything else?"

"There are still their people at court." Li Ruzhen continued: "Zou Yuanbiao, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, as well as Gao Panlong, the Junior Steward of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, and Sun Shenxing, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites—all of them are their people."

Li Ruzhen directly dragged all of these people into the case.

Han Kuang's heart trembled. He glanced at Li Ruzhen, only to find Li Ruzhen looking back at him, a hint of mockery even curling at the corner of his mouth.

That hint of mockery was aimed at him, because he too was a member of this faction.

Yet Han Kuang remained composed, knowing such things were inevitable—he would face even more criticism ahead.

"Have him sign his confession." Han Kuang said directly: "Bring in Yuan Yingtai."

Soon Yuan Yingtai was escorted up.

The case, which had been proceeding smoothly, finally hit a snag here—Yuan Yingtai admitted to nothing.

Yuan Yingtai claimed he knew nothing about framing Xiong Tingbi, nor anything about the Donglin Faction; his posting to Liaodong was by imperial appointment.

In a word, he stubbornly refused to confess.

Everyone turned to look at Han Kuang, including Wei Zhongxian.

Everyone wanted to know what methods Han Kuang had. From the very beginning to now, Han Kuang had pressed forward without pause. Everyone hoped he would continue to work miracles, including Wei Zhongxian.

Glancing at Yuan Yingtai, Han Kuang let out a sigh.

This was the first time Han Kuang had shown his emotions since the interrogation began.

But Han Kuang quickly reined his emotions back in and asked directly: "When the late emperor was still alive, he allocated 1,000,000 taels of military funds to Liaodong. Yet the silver that actually reached the various armies in Liaodong was only 600,000 taels. How do you explain this?"

Yuan Yingtai raised his head and looked at Han Kuang. He hadn't expected Han Kuang to ask such a question. This truly caught him off guard—no matter how he thought about it, he never saw it coming.

Looking at Han Kuang, Yuan Yingtai's expression was extremely bitter.

How could he explain this matter?

Was he supposed to say it was the custom of the court, the unspoken rule of officialdom?

Those words couldn't be spoken—once said, his fate would be dire.

"The accounts are in order. If 1,000,000 arrived, 1,000,000 was distributed," Yuan Yingtai said with a blank expression.

At this point, denial was all he could do; there was no other good option.

"At this point, denying it is useless. Li Ruzhen has already confessed truthfully. On the Liaodong side, we only need to send someone to investigate, and the truth will surely come out. Do you want to wait until then for your crime to be determined? The court's 400,000 taels of silver could not possibly have vanished into thin air. You had better think carefully—embezzling 400,000 taels of silver is something you cannot bear."

After saying these words, Han Kuang said no more.